| Culture Of Kolkata, India |
| Kolkata is an important cultural center of India with a rich literary and revolutionary heritage and is considered as the cultural capital of India by many people. The city is the birthplace of modern Indian literary and artistic thought and of Indian nationalism, and the efforts of its citizens to preserve Indian culture and civilization have no parallel in the rest of the country.[19] Kolkata was the birthplace or working place of Nobel laureates like Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, Sir C.V. Raman and Mother Teresa. Calcuttans tend to have a special appreciation for art and literature and are generally welcoming towards new talents. Famous new generation Indian artists like Sanjay Bhattacharya, Shakila and Paresh Maiti had started their careers from here.
A specialty of Kolkata's city culture is the Paras which signify a neighbourhood with a strong sense of community. They can be sharply defined on the basis of loyalties (like which households contribute economically to which public or "barowari" puja). Typically, every para has its own community club with a club room ("club ghar") and often, a playing field. People of a para habitually indulge in adda or leisurely chat in "rock"s or "rowacks" (porches) and tea shops in the evenings after work. North Kolkata paras typically have more street life at late nights compared to South Kolkata paras. Sports (cricket, football, badminton) and indoor games (carrom) tournaments are regularly organized on an inter-para basis.
Another interesting aspect of Kolkata is the widespread culture of political graffitis. Walls were "captured" for fixed numbers of years, and graffiti overpainting was tantamount to political transgression. Generations of political graffiti artists have been at work on Kolkata's walls, producing slander, witty banter and limericks, caricatures and propaganda.
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